Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao: To reduce risks, we will increase scrutiny on peers in the future

CZ, the CEO of Binance, plays a significant role in the FTX incident. Despite being blamed by some members of the crypto community for pushing FTX into a corner, CZ seems undeterred by the community pressure and intends to continue speaking out.

CZ stated that Binance has a policy of "not publicly commenting on competition in the industry," but he has broken this rule several times in the past.

For example, on July 7th, he mentioned that Three Arrows Capital owed the cryptocurrency platform Voyager hundreds of millions of dollars, and even with FTX/Alameda offering a $100 million bailout, it could not prevent Voyager from going bankrupt. However, Alameda, as an investor in Voyager, did not help them out when Voyager was on the brink of bankruptcy, and they did not even repay the $377 million debt.

1/3 We have a policy to not comment on competitors (we call industry peers) publicly. I broke this rule only a few times in the past.

July 7th, I tweeted this:https://t.co/qvVfLhtTx5 pic.twitter.com/AJ86k9X96j

— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) November 12, 2022

At that time, SBF tweeted back at CZ, questioning his understanding of bankruptcy mechanisms:

I'm always happy to see people interested in helping this industry. If it's just pretending, that's fine, but hopefully, some of them will first ask their legal team how bankruptcy works. Or they can ask us, I've always been happy to respond.

CZ sarcastically remarked that even if we go back to July before the incident, SBF clearly already understood bankruptcy mechanisms.

He concluded:

Looking ahead, I will slightly break the rule of not publicly commenting and be more outspoken about the issues I see in the crypto industry. This may lead to more debate or more meme-related arguments, but this is not my intention. It is to reduce risks, even if it turns out to be just a false alarm in the end.

As previously reported, CZ and Binance played a significant role in the FTX incident, which led to blame from many in the crypto community, arguing that he should not have pushed FTX to the brink, ultimately not acquiring FTX, indirectly causing market fluctuations and many to lose their life savings.

However, CZ seems undeterred by community pressure and intends to continue speaking out.